#there is a lot to unpack here for rachel

[forabeatofadrum]

Question for fic readers and I guess also writers:

In the upcoming chapter of Ljubili se (yes, I am writing something), I am introducing a "plot point" that might potentially never be brought up again. Should I include it in the first place, or is it fine to just never bring it up again? Or at least, it won't be resolved. And that's because it has absolutely nothing to do with the actual story of Ljubili se.

Then why is it there in the first place? Well, because other characters still have a life of their own, and even though Kurt and Blaine don't know it, that doesn't mean it isn't there. Does that make sense? So it's more to show that people in this universe are people with their own lives and stories and thoughts and what not, completely separately from their connection to Kurt and Blaine. But then again, if I do bring it up, even if it's mostly up to interpretation, do people want a pay-off?

[kaleidoscopewritings19]

Jason Todd x Black Widow!Reader

Title: Kissing and Banter

Warnings: NONE

Character(s): Jason Todd, Black Widow x Reader, Dick Grayson, Rachel Roth.

Prompts: bold print, credit- @ nightprompts

“Oh great. It’s you again.” Jason’s words made you seethe. Ever since Dick brought you home (as a friend) to meet everyone, Jason instantly had it out for you. You were dressed in your Black Widow uniform and you gave Jason an eye roll. “Jason, she’s a part of the Titans now. So whatever your problem is, you two better figure it out. Because you two will be spending a lot of time together.”

The two of you stared at one another. “You look ridiculous in that outfit, by the way.” Jason said as he got up and started to walk around you. His finger went to trace around your shoulder, but you slapped his hand away from you. “Touch me, and you’re dead.” You said and Jason smirked.

“Dick, when are you going to get her a mask? It’s important that we keep all of our identities secret.” Then he looked over at you and was in a way mocking you, “Did you miss the memo, or are things done differently in Russia? By the way, where’s the accent?” He asked as he leaned up against the wall.

Jason made your skin crawl. “One I was trained in Russia. Two, I’m from Gotham too you idiot. And three, my mask is right here.” You said as you approached him slowly with your mask in hand. “Now, are there going to be anymore problems tweetie bird?” He stood at least a good foot taller than you, so he lowered his head so he could look you in the eyes.

His gaze was deep and it could’ve burned right through you. “Maybe we should kiss just to break the tension.” Jason whispered, his lips were close to yours. You could feel his warm breath, the smell of cigarettes and fresh mint gum filled your nostrils.

When he finally stood up straight, you stood on your tip toes and your hand cupped his cheek. He brought his head down and you let your lips trace from his jawline to the corner of his lips.

“There is something deeply wrong with you.” You whispered before smacking him upside the head. With a sweet smile, you took a step back and walked out of the armory. You could feel Jason’s gaze on you, so you made sure to sway your hips as you walked out of the door.

Dick looked over at Jason, “She’s something..” Jason said with a smirk as he rubbed the side of his head. He quickly trailed behind you, and Dick shook his head. “I’m not going to see either of them tonight am I?” He asked out loud before grabbing his coat.

—

Rachel led you to your assigned bedroom, “My room is across from yours, so if you ever need anything, just let me know.” She said and you gave her a smile. “I’m going to the movies with Gar, do you want to join us?” She asked and you shook your head. “No, I better stay here and unpack. How about next time?” You asked and she handed you your other duffle bag.

“Of course. See ya, Y/N!” She said before leaving you alone in your room. You closed the big door behind you, and tossed your duffle bag to the floor. The bed was huge, and you couldn’t wait to climbed into it. A knock on your door made you jump and when you opened the door, there stood Jason Todd. He was leaned against the door frame with a smirk on his face, “Looks like we’re neighbors.” He said as he gestured to the room next to yours.

You sighed deeply, “What do you want tweetie?” You asked and he came into your room uninvited. Closing the door behind him, he took a look around your room, “This bed is by far the comfiest out of the whole tower. I’ve laid in it a time or two.” He said before laying across the mattress and you crossed your arms.

“I’ll make sure to burn it in the morning.” You say as you pushed his feet off the bed.

Grabbing your duffle bag, you started to unpack it and Jason’s hands delved into the bag of clothes. He pulled out your red laced bra, “Now this would be a site for sore eyes.”

You snatched the bra from his hands and shoved it into one of the dresser drawers, but before you could get another article of clothing out of the bag, Jason’s arms trapped you against the dresser. “Don’t you have to be stupid somewhere else?” You managed to stutter out.

His dark brown eyes gazed deeply into yours, “Tell me to leave and I will. Tell me you don’t want to kiss me.” He said as he tucked a strand of hair behind your ear.

Your words were caught in your throat. He was close enough to see the freckles that were along the bridge of his nose, He’s a jerk! You thought. Why am I wanting him to kiss me? I can’t be weak, and I can’t let him win…. But his eyes..His lips. You had known Jason for well over a year, but this is the most either of you had spoken to one another. “I must’ve gotten under your skin earlier. Didn’t I?” You asked and he smiled.

“A little. I’m not used to a woman not begging for me to give her attention.” He said and you looked down at his hand placement. His right hand rested on your hip, and the other was placed on the dresser. Jason was pressed up against you, “So you started being an asshole because I wasn’t falling under the spell of your charms?” You questioned with an eyebrow raised.

“I find myself insanely attracted to you. It freaks me the hell out, because I want you and you don’t want me.” He said, and you smiled. “I guess there’s a first time for everything, tweetie.” You say and he grabbed your chin.

“I’m not Robin anymore. I’m the Red Hood, so feel free to stop calling me tweetie bird. I’m more lethal than a damn bird.” He said and you looked into his eyes.

“I want you to.” You whispered and he raised an eyebrow.

“What?” He asked with confusion, and you leaned closer to his face.

“You told me to tell you if I didn’t want you to kiss me. I do. I want you to kiss me.” You say with a burst of confidence. Jason’s face didn’t make a single expression, which confused you. Did he just come in here to see if you buckled? Because you did, and now you regret even saying those words. You pushed him off of you, but he grabbed your arm and pulled you back into him. He picked you up in one swift lift and sat you on the dresser.

Jason’s eyes darkened, as he cupped your face with his right hand, while his left hand traced from your knee up to your thigh. Slowly, he leaned in and his breath tickled your lips. His lips grazed yours and he pulled back so he could get one final confirmation from you.

You nodded your head, never letting your eyes leave his. Jason’s thumb ran across your bottom lip, and finally, he pulled you into him and pressed a kiss to your lips.

Your heart raced and your stomach fluttered: it was all a sensation you have never experienced before. Who would’ve thought a highly trained assassin, would be getting butterflies?

Your reaction was confirmation enough for Jason to keep going. His fingers tangled into your hair, holding you in place. A soft moan escaped past your lips when his tongue swiped across your bottom lip.

His lips were soft and welcoming, and the kissing was slow. You wrapped your legs around his waist to bring him closer into your body. The kisses were getting shorter but rougher; you bit his bottom lip and he pinned your arms against the wall.

Jason pressed another kiss to your lips before pulling away. “This complicates things doesn’t it?” He asked and you nodded.

“It definitely cannot happen again.” You say and he grinned. “But I won’t be mad if it does.” Jason said with a wink, and walked over to the bedroom door.

Before shutting the door, he leaned in, “By the way, you don’t look ridiculous in that outfit. It’s kinda hot.” He said and then he closed your bedroom door.

———

Idk where I was going with this 😂

But thank you for reading 🫶🏻

[genericpuff]

Turns out it's been a while since I've talked about Rachel's medical fetish art so it came as a shock to people when I mentioned it in the last post (I've got quite a few asks about it lmao) So I'm gonna enlighten y'all real quick on what I'm referring to, and yes, it's probably exactly what you're thinking of when you hear the word 'medical fetish'.

CONTENT WARNING: DISCUSSION OF MEDICAL FETISH ART AND DEPICTIONS OF NEEDLES!!!!

So the name "used_bandaid" is one Rachel started using back in the early to mid 2000's. She went by a LOT of different pennames back then, including but probably not limited to:

Pepper_maid

madame_issue

Usedbandaid/used_bandaid

Rach Alex

Rachel Royale

Raquel

Medical Tophat/Medical_Tophat

Frill_house

Gingerbreadcoffin (? this one's kinda weird because the link itself with this username just goes back to her used bandaid MySpace account , so idk if she ever actually used it or if it was even affiliated with her lol)

Now you're probably about to ask, "Puff, how do you know these are all her?" and that's because Rachel still had all of these accounts interlinked through her projects, primarily The Doctor Pepper Show. She seemed to change up usernames often just for the hell of it.

Anyways. I'm not gonna show much of it here because I do think it's better to leave certain things in the past, but there's a LOT of her old work that implies the stuff that's questionable/problematic in LO has always been a part of her identity as an artist (DDLG, hot pink self-insert MC, etc.)

One such example is "madame issue":

This is such a 3-in-1 smoking gun for everything we see in LO. The reference to bandaids (see: used bandaid, which was part of her URL slug for her old flickr where this drawing comes from), the hot pink color palette, and of course, the fact that this character is almost DEFINITELY a self-insert of Rachel, thanks to that shared name.

She's also stated in old commission/print posts that Madame Issue was the one print she wouldn't sell.

She doesn't explicitly say why but I think it's pretty safe to assume it's because Madame Issue is her.

We also have Eva, "the queen of medical fetish". And the tags are... pretty self-explanatory.

That said, that's as much as I'm gonna go into with her old art, because a lot of it does get quite personal with her and I don't really think it accomplishes much more to continue digging up old skeletons, at least not unless they can be seen as parallel to LO (which some of them are and I'll likely be sharing more of those ones in a later post).

That said, there ARE still pages that are accessible without the use of the Wayback Machine that advertise her as a medical fetish artist without the need for extensive digging. If you search up The Doctor Pepper Show on Google, you'll actually find a reddit thread asking what happened to Rachel's old work, and there are comments with loads of resources to access her pre-LO content. You'll also find the listing for The Doctor Pepper Show on The Webcomic List, which literally describes it as a medical fetish comic: "This is a comic set in a world where evil doctors rule, girls wear frilly underpants and people use their manners. *May I please blow your f**king head off?* This comic features Gothic dandys, EGL (Gothic lolitas) and medical fetish fashion. (Neo victorian setting)"

I'll let y'all do your own digging from here, there's a LOT to unpack honestly and while I can't keep you from doing your own research, practice due diligence with what you choose to share. Again, I don't think it's a crime in and of itself for Rachel to want to distance herself from her past as a medical fetish artist, so I think it's only really relevant to show the things that are clearly still influencing LO (like her love for the movie Lolita or the very clear sexualization of youthfulness). While we can try to leave the past where it is, she does still write LO with a lot of the most problematic features of her former identity, and it makes it all the more bizarre that if she is trying to distance herself from it all, then why would she stick with one of the pennames that's the most easily tied back to medical fetishism?

TL ; DR: Rachel started off online with medical fetish and gothic lolita art (at least as far back as we can trace it) and elements of that past are still present in LO today. Use that info responsibly lol

[brighter-by-the-daly]

Rachel Daly x Reader

Part Nineteen - Surrounded

You’d never been on such a long flight before, Florida had been the furthest you’ve traveled but that was when you were young and barely within memory. A feeling of dread sunk into you the night before - over 30 hours of travelling in a flying tin tube can do that to a person. The thought of exciting spontaneity had drifted away in the early hours of the morning and had been replaced with stomach churning anxiety. Unable to sleep as Rach snored loudly next to you, the more she breathed the more you were getting frustrated; knowing that if you’re not well slept you get grumpy and that’s the last impression you want to make in front of everyone.. although you’re sure that you won’t be the only nervous flyer on the plane tomorrow, well today seeing as it’s 2am now. Putting up with Rachel’s snoring was getting hard to bare, every breath was a reminder that she was asleep and you were not. You’re used to falling asleep first and being a deep sleeper the snoring never usually bothers you but tonight it felt like world war three was boiling up in your stomach. In a desperate attempt not to project your frustrations onto your girlfriend you decided to get up and run on the treadmill for a while - you’d been working out a lot more now there’s a gym in the house. You ran until your body felt tired then had a warm shower but that was a mistake as it only woke you up again. Moving into the lounge where your suitcases were waiting you sat and stared at them for a while until something took over your body and made you pull everything out of them. Convinced you’d forgotten something and your mind beyond able to listen to reasoning made your arms frantically unpack everything you’d squeezed in, albeit most of the stuff probably unnecessary. The words of your girlfriend “if we forget something, we can just buy it” far off in the distance. You’re not used to having spare money to spend on stuff needlessly, if you have it already it’s coming. Unfortunately half way through packing everything back into it’s place, you fell asleep.

Awakening to a slight shake of your body you opened one eye to see Rach staring down at you from above “what’s happened here then?” her soft morning voice broke the silence. Grunting in realisation you’d fallen asleep surrounded by your belongings and were using them as a blanket, you wedged your eyes shut determined to get more zzz’s. “I couldn’t sleep” you mumbled trying to force her to stop talking and leave you alone. “What’s the time?” you asked hoping beyond anything that you’d at least got a few hours but when Rach said it was 6am you could not control your disappointment that she’d woken you up. “Just leave me, I’ll tidy this up later” pulling a pair of shorts over your eyes to block out the sun. “I’m not leaving you in the middle of the floor (y/n/n), come on” Rach bent down and scooped your tired body into her arms to carry you upstairs, laying you gently on the bed she sat with you for a while stroking your hair until you fell back to sleep.

Rachel’s morning hadn’t started quite the way she’d expected it to, making herself a cuppa tea and sitting cross legged on the floor to pack up your suitcase again. She wasn’t angry, she knew this was out of the ordinary for you and had wondered when the anxiety was going to kick in. A few hours passed when she heard you stirring so flicked the kettle on then crawled back into bed with you. “Are you okay baby?” she asked as her arms wrapped around your body making you the little spoon. “How did I get here?” your voice croaky and your eyes still shut but comforted by your lady’s hold on you. “You don’t remember?” with a shake of your head Rachel filled you in on your early morning antics. Groaning in annoyance at yourself that you’ve now go to pack your entire suitcase again, something you’ve done every day for the past two weeks. “Don’t worry darlin’, I’ve sorted it” she kissed your cheek “you didn’t have to do that doll” shuffling around so you were facing her, eyes squinting from the light coming through the curtains. “I know how big of a thing this is for you, I just wish you’d have woken me up” she said gazing into your tired eyes. You laughed softly to yourself remembering how mad you were at Rachel’s snoring and told her that. “I’m dreading this flight Rach” pushing your face into her chest so your words were barely audible. You don’t like admitting when you’re scared but a worry shared and all that. “Hey it could be worse, you could be on a public plane! You’ve always wanted to go to Australia, you’ve got me and Millie and all the others, I’m sure Mary will keep you busy with TikToks! All the snacks you could want, leg room for miles, beds; we’re gonna have a great time. You won’t even realise we’ll be flying for so long. And we stop off for a whole day in Dubai, have you ever been there?” Shaking your head with mild amusement, “do I look like the type of person that’s ever been to Dubai before?” your eyebrow raised in an unsurprising fashion. “Well, we get to have an adventure there too! Another magnet for your mum’s fridge!” she smiled squeezing you tightly. Rach always knew what to say - never called you silly or your feelings stupid, always validated your emotions and made them feel normal. Rachel was the most supportive person you’d ever had in your life, never questioning or demeaning and you were starting to realise what a healthy relationship truly was.

Gathering at SGP you were greeted excitedly by some of the others, Millie and Mary came bounding over to see you both the second they noticed your car pull up. Jordan came over with her arms out shouting “look who’s here!” The days of watching Villa together on the sidelines while she was injured ran through your mind. She’d talked about her worries about making the team and you were so happy to see her here. “I’m so proud of you!!” screaming as you scooped her up, “I told you you’d do it!” Soon it was 5pm and everyone boarded the coach which included a lot of karaoke that you were urged to join in with. Checking in at the airport made everything suddenly seem real, the nerves were starting to set in and it wasn’t going unnoticed. The girls linked your arms and lead you on board the flight - Rach in the middle and you and Mill either side of her. The plane was like nothing you’d ever seen before, there were even cabins with beds at the front! Food was served and you watched films together, they then entertained themselves by interviewing you on how it felt to be on your way to your first ever World Cup. After they both fell asleep you listened to music before trying to get some shut eye yourself until the lights came back on. You’ve never been able to sleep on flights but you had never been on a private plane with so much room before so you quickly drifted off and stayed that way for hours.

Part 20 - On Top of the World

[whatsjulietslastname]

Headcanon that Max and Chloe didn’t mention Rachel at all after the Storm (both because Chloe was still grieving and because it was still a sensitive topic for both of them after what happened) until a few months after they started dating when they finally had a long, genuine conversation about her and how they both felt about her and there was a lot of things to unpack here : Max’s jealousy, Chloe’s unresolved feelings, Chloe and Rachel’s whole relationship and everything Chloe never told Max about, Max’s feelings of insecurity after so many people compared her to her, Chloe’s feeling of betrayal after finding out Rachel hooked up with Frank, everything Jefferson told Max about Rachel, and their shared trauma after discovering Rachel’s body in the junkyard. And that was probably one of the heaviest, most complicated discussion they had since they left Arcadia Bay, but now they can mention Rachel Amber light-heartedly, and it helped them a lot to communicate.

[helpallthenamesaretaken]

my thoughts on the plot for wothd

”Now, to secure his second letter, Percy and his friends Annabeth and Grover must agree to a new challenge – pet-sitting for the goddess Hecate while she’s away over Halloween week”

Are we getting the trio dressed in halloween costumes?? PRETTY PLEASE. Also, i can smell the chaos all the way here

They just need to follow her simple rules

Look after her pet polecat and mastiff like their lives depend on it (because they do).

Don’t touch anything – especially Hecate’s magic potions!

I am already laughing from the number of jokes they’re going to make of themselves just messing everything up. Also grovercabeth being pet parents>>>>

“But when Grover’s curiosity gets the better of him, the friends find themselves with a giant goat, a destroyed mansion, and Hecate’s (terrifying and potentially deadly) pets on the loose in New York City”

There’s so much to unpack here.

First of all….THEY’RE BEING PET PARENTS AND LIVING IN A MANSION TOGETHER???? THE THREE OF THEM??? DOMESTIC GROVERCABETH YES PLSSSSS Sorry this hits so hard after percy’s ideal future in cotg where three of them are living together in a beachside cottage i can’t—

Also, groverrrr no we dont touch magic potions HE’S A GIANT NOW LOL GIANT GROVER 😂

“Now the trio have only days to find the pets and restore the mansion to order – or face the full fury of Hecate and her horrifying three-heads. It’s going to take luck, demigod wiles, and some old and new friends to hunt down the animals and set things right again.

This seems like such a rollercoaster of emotions 🥹 give it to me now richard

Also, OLD AND NEW FRIENDS!!!! Imagine if rick is in a sadistic mood and just make jason one of the old friends and make him spend a lot of time with them to set up for the death news next book hooohooo

But im hoping for rachel, nico, or hey it might be thalia with her mist bending powers that’ll help or piper with charmspeak or—

But new friends, im guessing it’d be a supporting character like that iris girl blanche. Maybe a hecate kid??

GENERAL THOUGHTS:

This book might eat i fear

It sounds like such a bundle of chaos, fluff and even more chaos, the expectations are high. I cant wait to see how rick writes percabeth living together. Also, i know that annabeth has sodnyc and percy has school so it’ll be fun seeing grover being the parent in the situation and making them breakfast and getting them ready to school. And their daily routine. (LOL I DONT KNOW WHY IM DELULUING MYSELF THEY MIGHT NOT EVEN LIVE IN THE MANSION)

Im excited if you couldn’t tell

[a-queer-seminarian]

Hi there. I'm wondering how you deal with reading parts of the Bible that talk about the Israelites coming to the promised land, defeating the people there etc, in light of... well, I'm sure you get where I'm coming from! I'm scared to look up commentary on it because I fear it will either be from a Zionist perspective, or dismissive of the "old testament" in that antisemitic way a lot of Christians can be. Every time my daily devotions include a Psalm with a line praising God for granting Israel victory in battle or anything like that it makes me so uncomfortable it's hard to pray...

Hey there, anon. Thank you for your courage in wrestling with these questions. I'm going to try to answer this well, but I may mess up, so I welcome correction or expansion, especially from Jewish folks — any antisemitism here is not my intent and I will fix it if pointed out; my sincere gratitude who anyone who chooses to share their time and energy correcting me.

I also have some books that grapple with these issues on my reading list (more on that at the end of this post), so stay tuned for more posts about these issues in the coming weeks once I've read them.

I see several interlocking components to your conflict, anon:

The presence of violence within scripture, carried out by its protagonists, often with express instruction or at least no condemnation from God.

Uncertainty regarding the relationship between the biblical Israel and the modern state of Israel.

The convergence of the first two components, allowing the use of biblical passages that speak of God giving the "promised land" to Israel to justify the modern Israel's occupation of that land.

Let's start with the first component apart from modern issues.

Wrestling with violence in scripture

When we come across violent or otherwise complicated parts of scripture, we should be disturbed. If scripture is inspired by God, does that mean anything a biblical text seems to condone is also condoned by God — up to and including genocide??

No. Even those of us who hold that scripture is inspired can acknowledge that it was written by human authors, living in specific historical and cultural contexts.

(If you've been raised with something closer to a "biblical inerrancy / literal Word of God" mindset about the Bible, it's okay to feel rattled by realizing there are other ways to read the Bible! You might find my webpage about a framework for reading scripture that acknowledges its human authors helpful for easing into such a discussion.)

In her book Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again, Rachel Held Evans has a whole chapter on wrestling with the Bible's war stories, taking their historical and cultural contexts into account and seeking places where God's inspiration breathes through the human accounts.

I can't recommend this book highly enough. I posted a loooong excerpt from this chapter over here, because I find it so important and helpful for unpacking these "texts of terror," as Phyllis Trible called them. That post is my top suggested reading as you wrestle with questions of violence in scripture, but I'll also add a little more here.

One important bit of context regards when many of the Hebrew texts were written: during or soon after exile in Babylon. Here's an incredibly over-simplified timeline:

In the 700s BCE, the Assyrian Empire destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel. That left its sister kingdom, Judah, rattled and grieving, with a lot of existential questions about why God "allowed" such a thing.

Then in the 500s BCE, the Babylonian Empire sweeps into Judah and obliterates the temple in Jerusalem, deports Judah's leaders into exile, and leaves the people even more traumatized, with more questions about where God is in their suffering and why God "let" such horrors happen to them.

As they're asking these questions, they're looking back at their history, looking both for places where God's presence and support are evident, and places things went wrong.

They consider their exodus from Egypt, and their eventual arrival in Canaan — and they re-imagine that arrival as much more violent than historical and archeological evidence suggest it was: instead of a gradual integration with the peoples already living in Canaan, they write about mighty battles where they wipe the previous people out completely.

Even if such violence didn't historically happen, it's still disturbing to read. Why did these authors want to re-imagine their people as having committed ethnic cleansing and even genocide?

Holy Resilisence: The Bible's Traumatic Origins by David Carr explores how trauma impacts these choices in greater detail than I can here, but part of what he suggests is that in depicting themselves as powerful and capable of enacting the kind of violence that was being enacted on them by empires like Assyria and Babylon, they felt a bit more stable in their current situation.

Trauma and grasping for a sense of control in a situation completely out of their control is also why a lot of the biblical authors, particularly prophets, write about God "sending" those empires to "punish" Israel and then Judah for "going astray" of God's instructions. If these empires are attacking and desolating them simply because they're Big and they Can, the people are helpless to do much about it. But if it's because the people lost God's protection, then they can regain that protection if they start acting faithfully again. There's a sense of control there!

There are also parts of scripture where a writer imagines doing some mega violent stuff to their enemies — the book of Nahum being one such place; Psalm 137 is another. When we read about the psalmist imagining dashing the heads of their enemies' infants on rocks, we must remember that this is the daydream of an extremely traumatized person imagining something they don't actually have any power to carry out. We're allowed to bring all our messy emotions to God, even violent fantasies. We don't have to tidy them up first. Imagining it isn't the same as acting it out. An oppressed person thinking about such violence isn't the same as their oppressor actually doing the violence.

Again, this is all vastly oversimplified; David Carr explains in much more detail, drawing more historical context and trauma theory to do so.

Edit: A fantastic and easy-to-read article on reading the "conquest of Canaan" and how it connects to modern-day Israel by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg can be found here!

So that's some info on grappling with violence in the Bible in general. But what about...

Disconnecting biblical Israel from the modern ethno-state

When the name Israel comes up in the Bible, it's reasonable that our brains immediately connect it to the other Israel we know of — the modern settler colonialist state currently occupying Palestine. This connection has been made intentionally by Israeli supporters, both Christian and Jewish.

But it is vital that we disconnect the biblical Israel with that modern state.

I'm extremely grateful for Jewitches' post that explains the distinctions, and the harm that comes from conflating the Israels, in detail. I urge you to read through their whole post (you'll see it's in infographic form, but scroll down and there's an image description of it all); but here's some main points:

First thing to know is that even within scripture, the word Israel can refer to several things: the person Israel, i.e. Jacob; Am Israel, the people group descended from that person — before, during, and after the biblical kingdom of Israel existed; Israel the kingdom; and Eretz Israel, the physical land discussed in the biblical texts.

None of these are Medinat Israel, the modern political state of Israel.

For centuries, all Jews have continued to identify themselves as Am Israel, the people of Israel, even in diaspora.

To conflate Am Israel and Medinat Israel is to erase that diasporic history, to erase the Jewishness of Jews living outside that political state. That denigration and erasure of diaspora Jews is an intentional goal of Medinat Israel, so that diaspora Jews will feel like they need to come to Israel.

Finally, to conflate Medinat Israel with the biblical people or kingdom of Israel does great harm as well.

The harm in conflating biblical Israel and modern Israel

It's not a mistake that people do conflate these things; there's a long history among both Zionist Jews and Zionist Christians in intentionally using passages from scripture to justify modern Israel's occupation of Palestine and violence against Palestinians. We must resist this!

Again, I'm indebted to Jewitches' post detailing these issues; again, I urge you to read their whole post, but will sum up some main points:

Once we conflate biblical and modern Israel, Zionist Christians are able to use verses like Genesis 12:3, “Blessed is everyone who blesses you, O Israel, and cursed is everyone who curses you," to justify support of the state of Israel. Anyone who questions modern Israel is warned that they are supposedly going against God and incurring divine wrath.

But Christian Zionists don't actually give a damn about Jews; they're using them as pawns in their own theological and political agendas. They can support modern Israel in one breath and pass antisemitic legislation or preach antisemitic shit with the next.

Moreover, "Conflating all Jews with Israel allows people (Jewish and non-Jewish) to attempt to revoke Jews of their Jewish identity when their politics do not “fall in line”."

My recommendation for starting to learn more about the history of the Jewish Zionist movement, started in 1800s Europe, is this article by JVP.

My recommendation for Christians who want to learn more about the harms of Christian Zionism is this other post by Jewitches as well as the Christian site christianzionism.org.

Summing Up / Further Reading

So to sum all this up:

When you encounter stories about Israel or mentions of Israel in the Bible, remember these things:

Am Israel, "the people/nation of Israel," is not to be conflated with Medinat Israel, the modern ethnostate. Am Israel in the present day = all Jews! Not just Israelis. Don't let Medinat Israel erase diaspora Jews, their diverse and vibrant expressions of Judaism, their right to connect with their own scripture and culture.

The biblical people and kingdom of Israel were a small group pressed by more powerful nations on all sides. A lot of the biblical authors bring grief and trauma into their writing about Israel. Remembering this can be helpful when grappling with the Bible's war stories.

While the biblical Israel was constantly besieged and at risk of occupation by others, the modern state Israel is the occupier. Their situations are completely different, so that applying biblical verses to modern Israel is both inaccurate and harmful.

___

There are still more questions to consider. I don't have all the answers; I'm sure I never will, but I'm working on gathering more information. I've had some books in my reading list that I plan to get to in the coming weeks / months; if I find any useful stuff in them, I'll share it on this blog.

If anyone is interested in doing their own reading / research, here are the resources I've gathered — please know that my listing them here is not me vouching for their content. It's possible some of them might turn out to be anywhere from a little problematic to total shit lol. We'll see!

Again pointing to ChristianZionism.org for essays and resources on resisting Christian Zionism.

Palestineportal.org has info on joining with pro-Palestinian Christians and getting active as churches, which is great!

That includes links to various denominations' pro-Palestinian organizations; my own denomination's is the IPMN. Apparently this congregational study guide + video of theirs is good.

Palestine Portal also has several lists of book recs! Here's their recs on Zionism, Christian Zionism, and the Bible. And their liberation theology list. The following books are ones from those lists that I've selected to read.

Faith in the Face of Empire: The Bible through Palestinian Eyes by Mitri Maheb

Justice, and Only Justice: A Palestinian Theology of Liberation by Naim Stifan Ateek

Jesus and the Land by Gary Burge, an ex Christian Zionist. He has a statement about why he's not a Zionist any more here.

Chosen? Reading the BIble amidst the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict by Walter Brueggemann

Israel/Palestine and the Queer International by Sarah Schulman

If anyone has other resources on any of these topics that they recommend, please do share! Thank you.

[kcenvs3000w24]

Blog 06: Nature Interpretation Through History

Hi everyone, and welcome to my sixth blog post! The topic we are focusing on this week is nature interpretation through history. There is a lot of information to unpack here, so let’s dive in!

This week’s discussion was based on natural history and the interpretation of it. Natural history involves creating stories and memories based on evidence. Interpretation is needed to give life to past events, as well as remember the importance those events may have had. Interpreters have the ability to enrich their audience by relating historical experiences to their own lives. 

Interpretive writing of natural history has the power to change the world. It has the ability to both persuade and entertain (Beck et al., 2018). An example of this would be Rachel Carson and her novel Silent Spring. Last semester I explored the impact Rachel Carson had on the use of pesticides in the United States in another Environmental Science class here at UofG (ENVS 3020). Through her book, Rachel Carson was able to bring attention to the adverse effects pesticides have on the environment and wildlife (Beck et al., 2018). Through her writing, which she used as an interpretive tool, Rachel was able to influence public perception and reconstructed movements towards protecting the environment. 

Rachel Carson's novel Silent Spring

"There is no peculiar merit in ancient things, but there is merit in integrity, and integrity entails the keeping together of the parts of any whole, and if these parts are scattered throughout time, then the maintenance of integrity entails a knowledge, a memory, of ancient things. …. To think, feel or act as though the past is done with, is equivalent to believing that a railway station through which our train has just passed, only existed for as long as our train was in it."

The above quotation is from Edward Hyams in the 7th chapter of his book, The Gift of Interpretation. When unpacking this quote, I think of the importance of both the past and present coming together. There is not necessarily significance in things just because they are older, but the real value lies in seeing the bigger picture (both the past and present). In order to maintain integrity, we must consider memories and knowledge of the past. Sometimes we live our lives without thinking or remembering what or who came before us. 

What I have taken away from this quote is to consider the importance previous history and events have on us in our modern day lives. By understanding history, we are able to learn valuable lessons that allow us to make informed decisions in the future. 

References

Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting Cultural and Natural Heritage: For A Better World. SAGAMORE Publishing.

[kevinmchalenews]

Feliz Glee! ("Glee, Actually" S4 EP 10)

Glee gets into the holiday spirit, drawing inspiration from "It's a Wonderful Life," "Love Actually," and the Mayan Apocalypse?? There's a lot to unpack here! Rachel and Kurt are back in the Glee club! Sam and Brittany get married? Rory is back? What in the ghost of Christmas past is going on here? Jenna and Kevin break it all down and reveal some special behind-the-scenes secrets, like why it was so uncomfortable filming Feliz Navidad for Kevin, the very meta scene at Paramount Studios, what Director Adam Shankman had to say about this episode and the 'movie magic' trick Kevin used to get himself to cry on camera. Yule enjoy this episode … it sleighs!

[anethara]

Books I read in August

since it's probably the last month I'll do any pleasure reading for the next two years.

Pageboy by Elliot Page Validating, cathartic, triggering, and absolutely fucking beautiful prose. Like, I want to read novels by this guy. His descriptions of internal and external landscapes are stunning and visceral. A great read especially if you're ftm because it's so familiar; especially if you're cis because it really unpacks and lays bare the intricacies of transness that are so difficult to communicate. It loses a bit of momentum in the eleventh hour, but it's a memoir so...you know, sometimes life is like that. Just read the thing.

Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion I read this book for the first time in seventh grade; for the second time in sophomore year of high school; for the third time at 21. Reading it at 32 is so much more rewarding than all previous readings (I suspect I will feel this way about reading it at 32 when I read it again sometime around 47). The horrors within it feel more profound; the stakes are much higher. There's a tangible sense of dread from that time that feels almost comforting in its familiarity, as if to say, "History rhymes; we have been here before; it's not too late to turn it around." Really interesting examination of political/cultural group think, and the ways in which opposing sides born of the same puritanical cesspool feed one another in perpetuity. And of course, Didion's style of prose is evergreen.

Real Americans by Rachel Khong I picked this up at a Target while on a trip to Idaho and enjoyed it immensely. The characters are compelling and for all my fellow aging millennials, the jokes will land because they are true and we have to laugh at our financial struggles or else we will have a collective nervous breakdown. My only complaint is that it feels like it should have been three separate books, and this is the only time I think I've ever felt that way. We're always complaining that a trilogy could have been condensed into a single work but for once, it would have been nice to get a richer, fuller story of each generation that the narrative follows.

Bullshit Jobs: A Theory by David Graeber This is one of those books where the premise feels like, "Yeah, no shit" to anyone who has worked in the service, hospitality, or manufacturing industries, but there's a lot of good here! It's one thing to know something for anecdotal fact, another to be able to articulate it with data and a cohesive argument. Graeber's system of taxonomy isn't perfect, and his grasp of feminism falls short of ideal (his arguments implicitly condemn sex work while tokenizing sex workers), but generally, the concept is there. This is a useful book to have around if you're an undergrad student who needs a library of citation material for research and persuasive papers. I also think this is an excellent 'baby's first critique of economy' read - a good gift for parents who are exiting their late-life Libertarian phase. The holidays are around the corner!

[autismtana]

santana lopez has adhd (part 2)

^the adhd/lesbian flags^

(*disclaimer: i have adhd myself and work in education/educational psychology, which is the basis of this post in which i get wayyyyy too analytical about a fictional character; however, i'm not a psychiatrist or doctor and am not qualified to diagnose real people with adhd or anything else ... seriously, our only representation is cis white boys whose adhd is an explanation for them being the class clown and treated as a joke so please don't get salty at me for claiming a fictional character that isn't a cis white boy as part of the adhd gang)

(credit to @dojasrivera on twitter for making the og adhd!santana thread; i unfortunately wasn’t able to see it as i only found out about it after their original twitter account got suspended but there may be some overlap between their thread and this post)

sup homies, as you know, tumblr cut me off so i had to make a part 2. (here's part 1)

ambitious but lacking in direction - noted terrible educator will schuester describes santana as being "unfocused" in 3x16.  she's indecisive about college in the latter half of season 3, initially says she wants to go then flip-flops, and then goes to louisville (fun fact: donovan mitchell also went there) for a short period of time then drops out.  after that she has a bunch of projects and career goals that never really go anywhere. (partially thanks to the lazy writing on the show)

fear of failure - santana wanted to go to new york after graduation but initially wanted to stay behind when she found out brittany wasn't graduating (like immediately), then chose to take the scholarship to louisville despite brittany and quinn both pointing out that she had the cash from her parents to pursue her dreams in new york (brittany was a lot more supportive and less judgy though). she did end up going after unpacking her anxiety around it with britt though.

low self-esteem, anxiety and/or depression - season 2 is what i like to refer to as "santana lopez's sad gay era", however i'd also argue that season 4 until mid season 5 (when she reunites with brittany) is kind of a low period for her as well.  the break-up is painful for both of them.  they're one another's safe people so when they don't have each other in close proximity, both of them experience depression.  i would also consider her demeanour at the beginning of 5x09 as an example of her exhibiting signs of depression. santana also experiences a lot of anxiety around her interpersonal relationships (pretty much all of season 2, 4x16, 5x09-5x13); in 5x18 it's very apparent that she's scarred by the experience with auditioning for rachel's understudy part and doesn't want to intrude on mercedes (thankfully, mercedes is awesome, we love mercedes jones here, themostrandomfandom does a great job of analysing this storyline here). it's also worth noting that despite how clumsily she goes about things, santana lopez is the most loyal, ride-or-die person on this damn show (she's definitely a gryffindor or hufflepuff who thinks she's a slytherin despite my less than positive thoughts on the transphobic lady's book series, or - in the context of the superior book series - a mary anne who thinks she’s a claudia) but the only acknowledgement she gets is shame, so she internalises it to give people an "out" ("I'm numb to people's feelings", "I have no heart").

can be easily distracted (while also hyperfocused on other things) - has a tendency to zone out of conversations (credit to @santanaslawyer on twitter) and couldn't remember her locker combo around brittany (although some of that could have also been santana being in her sad gay era and pining over britt)

narrow window of tolerance - santana was completely done with everyone's shit like all the time

strong sense of justice - homegirl uses her bitch powers to protect the people she cares about (see 2x17, 3x11, 5x18). other people aren't allowed to make fun of her mates, that's her job, dammit! she's also proactive in reporting mr schuester's lack of efficiency as a spanish teacher not because she dislikes him (which she doesn't; she might roll her eyes at him all the time but she does actually like him as a person) but because his teaching promotes offensive stereotypes, harms her and negatively affects everyone's education (and to her credit she is way more patient and charitable to him than he deserves when he literally chastises her in front of everyone for doing it). she will also challenge authority in situations where she is being held to a different standard to others. in 3x07, when figgins is considering suspending santana, she pushes back against it (rightfully so) because she doesn't understand how there isn't a zero-tolerance policy for violence when finn and puck get into it in the middle of school, or when the glee club get slushied, or when kurt is repeatedly physically assaulted by karofsky, but she slaps finn (after he outed her) and this policy suddenly exists. same applies in 3x13 when finn and rachel are allowed to have very graphic PDAs at school with no complaint from the authorities, but santana and brittany have one chaste peck and it's the end of the world, and she rightfully tells figgins that there's a double standard.

(really random) hyperfixations - it's a popular glee headcanon that santana spends a lot of time researching random shit on wikipedia (which she probably did the night before her wedding so she could explain to britt about the superstition around the bride/groom not seeing each other before the wedding) based on the absolute batshit cultural references she comes out with. she makes the most random cultural references (e.g. comparing rory to the great gazoo, which is a really random side-character from the flintstones), and has somewhat of a fascination with lizards (2x04, 2x12).  she also just randomly made an entire voodoo doll of rachel berry just for shits and giggles, like … wtf

lack of spatial awareness - so this one's mostly just naya rivera's physical comedy, but ... in the nicest possible way ... santana's a tad bit unco, isn't she? (see: her very charming wacky inflatable arm-waving tube person dancing in 3x08, the scene where she literally walks headfirst into a balloon in 3x22 and the scene in 5x17 where she gets attacked by pigeons).

hyperactive - santana's abuela put her in ballet classes because she was "such a tomboy and it really pissed [her] dad off"; obviously we know she had a mullet and dressed up as uncle jesse from full house for halloween (and she knows how to tie a tie, thanks again sarah) - those are obviously aesthetic things but "tomboy" can also be code for "hyperactive" in afab people (particularly if santana's grandmother was of the "children should be seen and not heard" generation).

[ofwittyardor]

Continued

@promqueengreen

Traffic; which wasn’t as lame as Rachel obviously thought. He did drive up here during rush hour; the airport got busy. But I knew I was drowning. Ross was very smart. But with Rachel she had the tenacity to make him squirm because she had a hold over him. She knew him like the back of her hand, just like he knew her. Did he think any of the excuses he told tonight would fly with her? No of course not but given our history deep down the brunette knew the why I was here. 

She’d gloss over the why because she didn’t want to talk about it. Obviously given her silence since I left that voicemail months ago. And if Adien wasn’t here dragging his feet behind us; I’d definitely have a lot to say to her. Even if it ended with the pending rejection. Ross normally walked away in fear, he didn’t want to be rejected but with Rachel he’d do anything for her. 

The way Rachel spoke she was making me out to be an idiot, a weak one too. It was a reminder of how far our history went. Years of knowing the other; her lack of gym activity, but I also wasn’t the one embarrassing the other right now. I felt unsure how to respond, I could hear Ariden chuckling behind us, I felt like such a fool to believe for one second that I could compare with this guy. Glancing to the pavement as we walked closer to my car, I found my voice. 

“ Yeah yeah, we get it, but you’d be surprised how much I’ve changed since you’ve been gone, I’m not the same Ross you knew,” Well I was still quirky, I was still an idiot sometimes, but I decided to keep those inner thoughts to myself. I wanted to make an impression. Upon settling myself into the drivers seat, I heard the retorts regarding my sister, she was a organized freak which means the female’s apartment was already fitted with her belongings, boxes undone, her clothes were inside the closet, her place would have the furniture before we arrive, it was kinda impressive about Monica. I had to release a laugh from lips as I aired out my reply. “ In other words we let Monica do the hard work, I’m sure she had Chandler there just to help with the boxes unpacking I mean, yet again it was probably her bossing him around.” What a poor fool I thought to myself; yet again I was the fool that was sitting in my car ready for the ride with Rachel and her new boyfriend. I was dreading this car ride; but for a second I managed to forget, upon hearing her confirmation that she was happy to see me, plus her hand on my knee. Eyes glanced to the contact as I responded to the dinner comment. 

“ I’ll see what I can do.” I never lied harder; I had no intention of going to this dinner, one I did want to pretend I had plans, and two to witness Rachel with her arms around Aiden all night now that made my stomach knot up. No thank you. But I kept that bit to myself as I nodded before I had placed my hand on the gear to put us into drive. 

Other hand moved to the radio letting some lame pop tune play; it would be a long ride for me, as I tried to focus on the road once we reached the parkway; let’s just make this painless right? It had already painted crap in my face; let’s just escape and prepared Aiden wasn’t in the backseat.

[distractivate]

Trivia (Wednes)day

Creators: give a “behind the scenes” look at one of your works. This could be things that got removed or changed, the origins of ideas/details, whatever you like!

Thanks to @smblmn​ for tagging me!

When I had a lot more free time than I do now, I often created digital models of the locations where my fics were set (AUs or outside of SC). My background is in design, so this activity was not totally out there for my interests, if still a bit unhinged lol. Making the model usually helps me percolate and develop details that find their way into the story. Making a model of the Rose Video store for The Last Rose Video gave me the idea that David would turn the adult video room into the community room that was a huge part of boosting the store's success. In Blackbird, Fly, the model of the bunker gave me the idea for David to use the service ramp as his own kind of meditation walk, which ended up opening the fic.

Normally the models aren't that pretty to look at, but I was really stuck on Good Winter, and I spent a lot of time avoiding writing modeling the Brewer Family fishing cabin and thinking about what objects Patrick could discover and ruminate about. It helped me brainstorm how those objects would tell the story of his emotional state, his family history, and his relationship with Rachel. I worked back and forth, from model to fic draft to model, adding details to both.

I vividly remember writing the excerpt below about Marcy and her dishes, which came to me so clearly while laying out the kitchen in the model.

Patrick nods and ponders that as he sits down next to him with their cups of tea. That’s maybe what he’s doing here. Finally.

“Are these antique?” David asks, studying the delicate blue floral pattern on the soft white china.

“I assume. They were my grandmother’s.”

“They’re fancy,” he says appreciatively, taking another sip.

His dad didn’t even question it when his mom unpacked the box of china that first summer after her mother died. He just turned fond and kissed the top of her head, and they spent summers eating fried fish on the same fine china she’d used for big family dinners since she was a girl. They’re so out of place here at the end of a very long road from nowhere to nowhere, but he loves them, loves the way his mother said yes to wilderness and no to being wild about it.

After his week here, he can see she was always doing that, adding touches to the cabin to soften it. His dad complained once about how fishing cabins were supposed to be rough, but just once. Patrick suspects he actually loves it.

The will to bend places to suit, instead of the other way around, is something he admires about David, too. Sometimes Patrick complains about how quickly they go through candles, but he loves walking into the bedroom, the Cedar and Suede reminding him of home and work and partnership in every sense of the word.

Anyway this is my one surefire way to kick writer's block, and I miss having more time to work this way.

Tagging @likerealpeopledo-on-ao3 @olive2read @icmezzo and anyone else who wants to join.

[genericpuff]

Persephone and the road to healing (TW: SA AND HOW IT PERTAINS TO LO WILL BE DISCUSSED AT LENGTH HERE, ALSO MINOR FP SPOILERS AHEAD!)

So I wasn't planning on going off on a rant today, but I saw this pop up on an Insta LO edit account and I just... I had to call it out because I'm really sick of this rhetoric going around.

I'm... not really sure where all this is coming from? Like, did the timeline split somewhere between last week and this week? I feel like it's criticizing a part of the fanbase that I'm misfiring on completely here but... people have issues with the portrayal of Persephone/Eros/Daphne in recent episodes for a reason. The fact that I have to say anything on it at all is kind of gravely concerning.

Okay, where to begin... there's a lot to unpack here.

Before I continue on, you need to know that if I have to fall into either side of this discussion, it's the side that does NOT like the portrayal of Persephone in S3 and how the sexual assault subplot is being handled. If you care to know why, continue reading here. Yes, I will be talking about my own experiences with SA and toxic relationships so here's a SECOND trigger warning for DISCUSSION ABOUT SA, TOXIC/ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, AND HEALING FROM TRAUMA !!!

Moving on. There's a lot of ground to cover here. I'm gonna try my best to get through all of it but I apologize in advance if my points seem very scattered, I'm not sure how to even begin to structure a rant like this.

So, no, I do not think LO is handling the SA plot well. LO does this thing where it'll distract the readers with other plotlines juuust long enough that when they come back to serious plotlines like the SA or HadesxPersephone, it'll make the reader feel like things have actually progressed. When in reality, they've barely moved along. We see this sort of weird real time/comic time disconnect show up a lot when people look at the 'official' Lore Olympus timeline and shockingly realize that Hades and Persephone have only known each other personally for a few weeks.

That aside, I think the SA plot falls victim to this same phenomenon. We return to it every now and then to remind people that it exists, but we never actually spend time on it in a way that's productive, it's often rehashing the same points or thought processes that have already happened.

(Pyrrhic_Victoria covers this in great length in their video analysis series on LO, I highly recommend you go check it out!)

Cut to the most recent free episode, Persephone is suddenly being characterized as hypersexual. Which would be an interesting way to go about it, if it wasn't Persephone as we've come to know her in LO and if it wasn't being presented purely for comedy.

I shouldn't have to explain how stilted, performative, and absolutely cringe this dialogue and plot point presentation is. Persephone is in the Mortal Realm, trying to fulfill her duties so that she and all the other gods (including her MOTHER) affected by the "Great Divide" can get back to their normal lives. And here she is, talking like Steve Carrel from 40 Year Old Virgin about something she 1.) has never done consensually before, and 2.) has only experienced once as an attack on her body and spirit.

This is a woman who didn't know what 'sleeping to the top' meant.

This is a woman who, according to Rachel, 'doesn't know she's sexy'.

This is a woman who, despite Rachel's claims that this story is meant to 'deconstruct purity culture', is constantly objectified as Hades' wife first and a person second.

At best it just feels like a complete character tonal shift that doesn't make sense with what we've been shown in the comic. If Persephone is just cool with sex and all that shit now, great! Good for her! But we never saw that develop on screen, we skipped over it completely.

And then, of course, that particular flashback scene happens in an episode where we get... this.

Persephone being dressed in the skimpiest outfits possible, panels being constantly focused on her boobs and ass, the constant infantalization of her physique and personality... people aren't being pearl-clutching when they have issues with this, they're recognizing female characters who are being deliberately written through the male gaze. There's a HUGE difference between that and sexual reclamation. ESPECIALLY when you throw in the very intentional infantilization of Persephone on top of all that.

For anyone who DOESN'T know what that difference looks like, a great example is Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn. Suicide Squad Harley Quinn is 10000% depicted through the male gaze.

Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad bends over for the camera to get a shot of her ass while she steals shit from a shop window. Birds of Prey Harley Quinn dresses like a badass hot mess who doesn't give a shit what people think about her. One of these things is not like the other. Her sex appeal depends on which demographic it's trying to appeal to.

Persephone, on the other hand...

This kind of presentation and framing is deliberate. There's no functional reason for the shot of Persephone pointing at the Apollo billboard to be framed squarely on her chest. Rachel may be a female creator, but that does not mean she's immune to drawing women through the lens of the male gaze. As an AFAB individual myself, I can attest that many of us do this without even intending to simply because it's what we absorbed growing up due to what's been popularized in visual media.

Context also matters.

Persephone isn't just a sexual assault victim reclaiming her sexuality, she's a sexual assault victim who's BARELY shown any thought towards what happened except for when it's convenient for RS to throw in. Otherwise, she functions like someone who's never been sexually assaulted - whenever she recoils from intimacy with Hades, it's because she's worried about not being a good sex partner, NOT because of the assault; whenever we see scenes of Apollo, they're deliberately framed alongside scenes of Hades to make him look like a better partner for Persephone just for the bare minimum of not being a rapist.

In a lot of cases, we spend more time on Hades' thought processes and how her trauma affects him than we do Persephone's.

And not to remind you all of the obvious, but the story started off with her at age 19 and with zero life experience getting into a workplace affair with her 40-coded love interest who's in a much higher position of power than her. If y'all wanna bring your real life anecdotes into your literary analysis, then acknowledge for 2 seconds that if you saw someone like this in real life, you would be INCREDIBLY concerned.

Persephone's sexuality hasn't even been 'reclaimed' by herself and herself alone. This is someone whose sex life is now being turned into a spectacle not JUST by the characters in the story, but by Rachel Smythe herself.

Of course, after people criticized the original release of this episode, we get Eros and Daphne backtracking by the next episodes, where I can't help but feel Rachel threw this in to backtrack on her own oopsie to have the two people who know about Persephone's assault poke her about her sex life. Eros hasn't seen her in a decade and it seems to be the only thing he gives a shit about despite knowing full well what she's been through.

That's not even getting into what happened with last night's FastPass and how the advertising was clearly staged to get people to spend their coins.

Needless to say, Persephone's sex life is absolutely 1000% being treated as an 'event' despite the context of her being a sexual assault victim. It leads to the characters in the story pressuring her, as well as the audience reading the comic.

"I'm a victim of SA! This is exactly how I healed from my trauma so you're invalidating our experiences-"

Okay. So am I. Sooo where does that leave us?

To all that I say, LO is not therapy. LO's quality of writing is not and should not be determined by how much you're able to project yourself onto the very vague and broad main character (*who's designed that way explicitly because you, the reader, are supposed to be able to just insert yourself into the story and fantasize about living her life, that's why LO is like crack to some people and why so many people turn feral over 'negative' opinions towards the comic). It's great if you can relate to Persephone, I'm not trying to invalidate that. But that doesn't mean the writing and framing of the story's female characters isn't problematic.

LO is a comic. It is a story. And from a storywriting perspective, this is not being handled well. If Persephone is healing through hypersexuality, then we need to be shown more than just having her dressed up in skimpy clothing and getting ogled at by men. We need the plot to quit flipflopping over whether or not she's an inexperienced and traumatized virgin or a dick-thirsty "boss babe". Trying to do both with the context we have of her character arc is what's icky, not her and Daphne happening to have their boobs out.

(sorry I realize that wording was kinda harsh but whoof this topic gets me going LMAO)

Not to mention, everyone who's claiming that the people with issues with this are "pearl clutching" and "invalidating SA experiences" are doing their OWN invalidating of those who are also SA victims who didn't heal from it the same way Persephone is presented here. Speaking candidly as someone who suffered from both hypersexualization AND sex depersonalization due to trauma, I cannot relate to how Persephone's trauma is being depicted in the comic, because it lacks consistency, commitment to the plot line, and respect towards the victim's autonomy.

Much of the defenses I see people coming up with are completely inferred, filled in the blanks by their own experiences while Rachel does the bare minimum to actually progress her characters' healing through the writing itself. Hades pulls away from sex and Persephone doesn't know why? One side of the discussion assumes it's due to Hades having performance anxiety, the other assumes it's because Hades doesn't want to push her due to her trauma, and until the comic tells us otherwise, both sides are right. The sexual assault plotline - like many other plotlines in the comic - has just been dragged out so long and kept vague enough that readers are filling in the blanks with their own basic interpretations and passing it off as a "good job" on LO's part.

And, again, I feel like this is intentional. Persephone is kept just vague and broad enough in her characterization that any average woman can look at her and 'relate' to her, but the issue is that this has been to the detriment of Persephone as a standalone character. It drives me nuts when I see criticisms of Persephone's character writing combatted with "YEAH WELL YOU'RE INVALIDATING MY EXPERIENCES!!!" We're talking about Persephone as a standalone character, not you, Debra. I get it, stories are a great way for us to connect with one another and with our inner selves, but there's still a line you gotta draw between your own personal biases and experiences and that of the characters' within an established narrative.

Again, this isn't me trying to invalidate anyone's experiences or dismiss how you might relate to the comic. But this is about the writing and framing of the comic itself and how Persephone's trauma has been pushed to the wayside to make way for the "sexy time" spectacle that Rachel has created. Look no further than the comment sections on the Fast Pass previews from last week.

Of course, it doesn't matter if people are 'disappointed' over the fact that it didn't happen because those same people will just turn around right after and say "IT'S FINE! PERSEPHONE'S TAKING IT SLOW, PROBABLY BECAUSE OF THE SEXUAL ASSAULT, GOOD FOR HER! GREAT STORYTELLING RACHEL!!" as if this wasn't an intentional move to get people to spend money for FastPass when LO's revenue is clearly lower than ever; and as if readers aren't making that assumption through their own experiences and mental gymnastics and not with any effort from the writing whatsoever (again, Persephone's more worried about being a bad sex partner for Hades, NOT about the fact that she was SA'd). The amount of gaslighting the fanbase does to themselves to justify lazy writing is astounding and frankly, kind of disturbing.

(also, 'let's be real', why the fuck are we talking about the 'morality' of Greek retellings as they pertain to LO now? I thought we settled that debate ages ago? LO doesn't have a 'grey' morality, it has a confused one, it tells us sexual assault is bad but then expects us to cheer when Hades rips out a reporter's eyeball or when Persephone harasses that same reporter's roommate fucking 10 years later just because he had an opinion about it once and didn't want to be BFF's with Persephone because of what her glorified sugar daddy did. Again, did the timeline split or something? It's wild that they'll call people "pretentious" for having an issue with the male gaze of the comic but then go off about how CLEARLY people are just 'uneducated' on Greek mythology and morality and have the 'wrong moral compass' as if this isn't a comic trying to present itself through a progressive lens and failing horribly at it lmao)

At the end of the day, nobody is saying that Persephone can't have sex for pleasure. The issue is the constant infantalization, objectification and male-gaze sexualization of Persephone and other female characters who have been victimized during the comic's plot. The plot is not doing the heavy lifting to progress Persephone's healing plot arc, it's completely depending on the readers' filling in the blanks with their own traumatic experiences to pass off as a 'job well done'. This is, in all honestly, incredibly manipulative and condescending of the narrative and its writer and doesn't make for good storytelling.

*sigh* Anyways, we'll see how people react to next week's episode I guess, when Persephone gets to act like a petty little POS to a lower class employee 😒

Do you agree or disagree? Share your thoughts in the comments, I'll try to reply as best I can, IDC if you do disagree with me, I'm all for in-depth discussion, just don't be a dick lmao Otherwise if we're agreeing to disagree, that's fine too.

I'm so tired y'all.

[brighter-by-the-daly]

Rachel Daly x Millie Bright x Reader

Part Six - FWB 🔞

Posted: 29/04/23, Edited: 26/09/23

Spending the evening with the girls drinking a little too much and making an absolute tit of yourself on karaoke; you’d forgotten that European measurements are a lot more than in the UK. At the table Millie’s arm was draped over your shoulders, the girls are so used to her and Rachel holding hands and being close at camp that nobody batted an eyelid at you two being cozy.

Stumbling back to the hotel room, Millie’s arm was around your back gripping your hip to hold you up, giggling your way down the hallway and falling into your bedroom. “Wow it’s so clean in here! You’ve already unpacked?” switching on the light she was shocked at the sight of your tidy room compared with her pig sty. “Errr yeah, I’m not you!” laughing at her as you went to grab two cups of water before calling to see if Rach was awake.

Your phone and face lit up as your girlfriend answered almost immediately, “hey baby, wow you look so fit!” she said captivated with the way you looked tonight with the slight glow to your skin. “Doesn’t she!” Millie butted in pushing her head into the frame, “you too Brighty!” Rachel bigged up her best friend so she didn’t feel left out. You spoke about what you’d been up to and how awful you were at karaoke, she told you how training went and that Villa are playing Man U at the weekend. When your tipsy brain took over and told your girlfriend that you wanted to jump Millie, Rachel laughed as your friend looked shocked at your admission. “Woah, you do?” Millie’s voiced turned high pitch as she smartened up her shirt proudly, “gurl have you seen yourself?” announcing to her over dramatically. Rach said you’re both looking way too hot to not do anything tonight and reiterated that she’d already given her blessing before you left, saying she loved you both and to have a good time then hung up.

Millie stood up to lock the door as your eyes scanned her body - her shorts showing off her toned legs made you want them wrapped around you.. now! Spinning around she saw you biting your lip and chuckled “my eyes are up here (y/n/n)!” making you flush a little red at being caught with your thoughts. “Rach told me you get horny when you’re drunk” laughing as she ushered you over with her forefinger in a ‘come here’ motion. Wrapping your arms around her neck and tiptoeing to reach her, she lifted you up connecting your legs around her waist. Pressing your foreheads together as your noses grazed, flickering between looking into her eyes and down at her lips, teasingly brushing them together before devouring each other in a moment of passion. Your dress had risen up to your hips as her hands were firmly gripping your arse before sitting down on the edge of the bed with your body draped over her, Millie was well practiced with women by now and had no qualms about doing exactly what she wanted. Her strong hands started at the base of your dress lifting it above your head as you unbuttoned her shirt, fingers tugged at each others hair and hands explored each others body frantically.

Stroking your lips with her thumb, you parted them to circle it with the tip of your tongue as she slipped it further into your mouth. Dragging it down your body and into your pants where her eyebrow and the corner of her mouth raised as she felt what she’d done to. Leaning over to kiss your neck, her untamed blonde hair tickled your face as she circled your clit to make little moans harmoniously dance from your lips to her ears. The vibrations too much to ignore as she kissed down your body until her head was between your legs, holding her in place until you came close, she’d learned by now your tells when you were nearing the edge and slid her fingers inside you to help you get there. Replacing her tongue with her thumb so she could sit back and watch her hard work come to fruition as your hips raised and your body started to shake. Remembering what Rachel had taught her the first time you had sex, she made you lick her fingers after, this time not being shy about it and visible cocky enjoyment wiped across her face as she bent down to kiss you after. Rolling on top of her so she was under you and holding her arms above her head you kissed down her body, longing for her legs to be wrapped round your head all night long, that’s where you headed. Your knees fell to the floor as you dragged her body closer to you, sliding her legs over your shoulders and holding her hands so her arms were taught by her sides. You paid her the same respect by helping her tip over the edge, her thighs clamping your head into place as she rolled her hips against your face making the only type of mess that you loved.

Climbing back onto the bed to lay down beside her to catch your breath, you’d barely touched the mattress before she was rolling over to pull her shirt back on to make her way back to her room. Your eyes fluttered open as you watched her movements, “stay?” you smiled at the blonde while tapping the space she’d left on the bed next to you. “Didn’t make you out for a fuck and run type of girl” you giggled at her as she grinned and crawled back into bed with you nearly as quick as she’d got up. “I didn’t know what the procedure was for when Rach isn’t here” she said innocently, stroking the now damp bangs out of your eyes and lingering her hand on your cheek. “I’m sure she wouldn’t like you leaving me alone after that” you whined softly, secretly wanting cuddles.

Waking up stuck together due to the humidity in the apartment, you peeled yourself off Millie’s chest which made her stir and pull you back into her, placing a kiss on your forehead “good morning pretty girl” she mumbled caressing the back of your head. Last nights alcohol now clouding your mind made you feel guilty about what had happened between you during Rachel’s absence. Staring up at the ceiling she could tell something was off, “hey, you okay?” Millie asked lifting your chin with her finger to look at her “yeah..” you murmured making her look at you unconvincingly. “Last night was fun, I just-” “feel bad?” she finished your sentence while nodding in agreement and suggested calling Rach.

“Hows my fave girls in the world?” Rachel chimed down the phone, she could already tell on your faces that you were covered in guilt.

“We feel bad!” you both whinged immediately, there was no time for pleasantries you just wanted to get your confession out. Rach asked why, she knew what had happened but didn’t know why you both seemed so miserable! Telling her you both felt awful for what had happened without her even in the country, she reassured you both that she wouldn’t have given her blessing if she didn’t mean it. She knew you’d both come running back to her in no time anyway and it was one of the boundaries that was set in the beginning - as long as the other one knows before and we check in after. “Well let’s put it this way, you two get to make it up to me when you’re home!” she winked, not a care in the world which made you feel a lot better. “Now stop moping and go get a tan! I’ve got to get to training, love you” “love you” both of you chimed back at her before she hung up.

Part Seven - Coming in Crutch

[summerstrash]

there's something buried deep in the connections between Alex, Maddie, Cable, Kwannon, Mystique, Destiny, Kurt, Forge and Greycrow (and a little bit Betsy & Rachel, too) in the Krakoan Era, and I think it's going to take a lot to unpack but for the moment, suffice to say:

it's somewhere in the idea of women bearing messiah-children they will never raise, women losing their children, the spectre of catholicism juxtaposed with ghosts and devils in the machines, women lost in the desert, the destruction of the body as the creation of the weapon, blood and destruction and undying love and mirror images and queer women and the men who love them —

it's all here and I wish I had better words for the web of connections I see in my head, but I don't, it's not a thing I can express in an essay form yet but it's so vibrantly present and I'm expecting it'll take me five more years to unpack it all.